Shiller suddenly felt that this instance was pretty good. Now all the Batmen were definitely puzzled, yet they couldn't ask anything. The scene was just too much fun.
Primary Universe Batman and Bruce were among the few who knew that Shiller actually only had one personality, just split into different traits; everyone else thought the different Shillers were counterparts from different universes.
As it turned out, these two discovered at the same time that Shiller had physically split, but the catch was they couldn't ask anything.
Shiller swore he had never seen the Primary Universe Batman's eyes go so wide; he was starting not to look like Batman anymore.
After enjoying the spectacle for a while, Shiller decided it was time to get down to business. He cleared his throat and said,
"About three days ago, the Church I belong to received news that a Wandering had appeared in the Faralines area. I came here as fast as I could. I am a Soul Calmer. What about you?"
Shiller had set a simple backstory for himself, that of an ordinary Church worker dealing with anomalies in this world, arriving here about the same time as the detectives.
Finally, Primary Universe Batman looked away, his voice low, "I am a Hunter and wilderness survival expert. I've been hunting near the Faralines Mountains, and the villagers here mentioned it's been active lately, so I came to check it out."
The zoning-out Bruce suddenly snapped to, saying, "I am a... psychiatrist."
He spat the last word through clenched teeth, and Shiller could only rejoice inwardly that he was 'just' a psychiatrist and not a psychology professor, or else he'd really have to let this corpse take him away.
"Do you have prescribing rights?" Greed chimed in from the side. "Looks like an occupational hazard to me."
"I am a medical intern." Bruce took a different tack, saying, "I still have about 1,000 hours of internship to complete without prescribing rights. Still learning."
"How did you come here?" Primary Universe Batman asked.
"I'm interning at Sigeltek," Bruce replied. "I had seen some very special cases about this village in my files. I came looking for material for a paper."
He flashed a smile at Shiller.
He better not have really come to write a paper, Shiller thought, or else the next person lying on the ground would be either him or me.
"I'm here on vacation." Greed shook the camera in his hand and said, "I heard the winter scenery here is beautiful. I planned to take some pictures."
"Are you a photographer?" Shiller asked.
"Not the super professional kind, mostly just a rich second generation."
"Suits you," Shiller remarked.
The pale knight sighed, "I am a lawyer. Got into some trouble with a case. I heard the homestays here were cheap, so I came to lie low. I didn't expect to encounter this."
"I'm the local sheriff," Night Owl frowned, with a voice even deeper than Batman's, "Obviously here to investigate this homicide. I hope you all will cooperate with my work."
After he finished introducing himself, everyone's gaze fell on the last person who hadn't spoken.
Joker loosened his arms and shook his apron, saying, "What are you looking at?"
"What's your job?"
"Great artist!"
That was barely an answer, but the Batmen of course recognized Joker. He didn't want to say more, and no one pressed him, to avoid setting him off.
Everybody's gaze then uniformly turned to the body in the center of the room.
The body was split down the middle.
This wasn't an adjective but a precise description; the body was bisected from the head down to the lower abdomen, with a small part still connected, now forming an X shape.
The corpse was of an adult male, around 30 years old, likely dead since last night, but due to the low temperature, the body was well preserved.
His clothes were very ordinary, consisting of a brown sweater with jeans. He wasn't holding anything in his hands, but the most important detail was that there was mud on his shoes.
The snow was heavy outside now. If someone were to come in from the snow at this moment, their shoes would definitely have snow on them, which would be water if it melted, but the mud on this man's shoes was relatively dry.
This meant either this was not the first crime scene or the man had arrived at the cabin before it started to snow.
Shiller, who was closest to the door, walked over to it. The door wasn't shut tight; it was slightly ajar, so no one stopped him from opening it. He bent down to inspect the snow outside.
As soon as his hand touched the snow, he realized he was frozen in place. The Transcendent's voice rang in his ear, "Potential clue found—the thickness of the snow requires an Intelligence check of 18, will you proceed with the check?"
Shiller immediately understood the game's rules. It didn't matter whether he could estimate the thickness of the snow or calculate how long it had been falling; he had to pass the check to deduce anything, or else he wouldn't be able to state the answer directly.
"Check," Shiller said.
He saw a twenty-sided dice appear in front of him, thrown by some unknown force. When it landed, it showed a 6.
Dice result 6 plus attribute result 10, a total of 16 points, insufficient for the required result of 18 points, check failed.
Shiller found he could move again. He turned to look at the others, opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He couldn't voice his conjectures; it seemed he couldn't even form the words.
The others seemed to have seen the dice too. From Shiller's current reaction, it was clear he wanted to give the answer, but he couldn't.
But Shiller reacted quickly, immediately saying, "Is there anyone here who is more familiar with the wilderness? Perhaps we could check the thickness of the snow?"
Primary Universe Batman understood his meaning right away; in fact, Shiller was hinting that someone with higher attribute points should give it a try.
Primary Universe Batman walked over, and as he looked at the snow, Shiller also saw the dice, a red 20-sided die slowly tossed, landing with the number one facing up.
Everyone was stunned.
"Critical failure!" Shiller heard the Transcendent shout.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew into the room, and Batman, who had been looking at the snow, was blown directly to the ground, and everyone else also felt a chill.
Shiller thought that this was the punishment for a critical failure. But when Primary Universe Batman stood up, he found that the door could no longer be closed, and the cold wind continued to pour into the room incessantly. The modest heat from the fireplace was far from enough, and the room's temperature instantly dropped to around zero degrees Celsius.
Shiller did not find any coats in the room. Although they were dressed rather warmly themselves, most of their clothes were not windproof. If it kept blowing like this, they would all be frozen stiff in less than two hours.
"I'll try to fix the door," Night Owl said. "Back at the police station, I often fixed broken stuff; sometimes you just have to show them who's boss."
This was his way of hinting that his attributes were high, and Primary Universe Batman did not compete with him, instead stepping back. It wasn't that his attributes were insufficient, but rather that he did not quite trust his luck.
Shiller heard that the Transcendent had called for a dexterity check this time. The requirement was lowered a bit, needing only 15 points. Shiller suspected that Night Owl's natural agility attribute might be around 12 to 13 points, needing to roll just two or three points more.
The dice rolled, landing on the number two.
Just as expected, Night Owl had 12 points in agility, but sadly, with an additional 2 points, it was still only 14 points, one point shy of passing the check.
"Are you doing this on purpose?" Shiller asked the Transcendent in his mind.
The Transcendent remained silent for a moment, and after Shiller called out to him twice, he had no choice but to respond, "I am just shocked at your bad luck."
"What do we do now?" Shiller asked him, "I think we might be heading for a total party kill."
"Uh, you can try to find some tools for repairs," the Transcendent had to suggest, as he realized that without a reminder, this group of unlucky people was seriously going to freeze to death.
They hadn't even properly started the mission yet; it was still the time for them to get used to the game during the tutorial.
"I think we could look for some tape or something," Shiller spoke up. As everyone present was smart, they naturally understood what he meant, so they scattered to search.
Yet Shiller slowly approached the corpse.
"Can I strip his clothes off?" Shiller asked.
"Why are you so morbid?"
"He's already dead, and he has no use for clothes anymore. If we really can't fix it later, perhaps we can use his clothes to block the gap in the door. This isn't morbidity; it's utilitarianism."
"Fine, you can do it, but you need to pass a check."
"A check for what?"
"Inspiration."
"What?"
"You have to pass an inspiration check."
Shiller stopped in his tracks.
Pass an inspiration check? You shouldn't need inspiration to strip clothes from an ordinary corpse, Shiller thought. Was there something peculiar about this body?
"I've heard it's been rather unsettled around here lately; this corpse might well have died at the hands of the mysterious Wandering," Greed suddenly spoke up.
Shiller wasn't sure how many mental health points he had lost from that first glance at the corpse, but if he failed this time, the penalty would definitely be more severe.
Shiller sighed and abandoned his idea. At this time, Bruce found a screwdriver behind a bookshelf, and Primary Universe Batman found half a roll of tape in a drawer.
They handed these items to Night Owl, who took the tools and went over to find that he was not fixed in place, but was able to repair the door quite smoothly. Finally, the door was closed.
This made Shiller realize another game mechanic: not everything required a check. If one could find the right tool, they could complete some tasks that would otherwise require a check.
Shiller suddenly began to survey the room.
"How free is this game?" Shiller asked.
"What are you planning to do?" The Transcendent knew too well why he was asking this. He said, "Don't even think about it; tools that are readily available don't require a check, but if you want to dismantle the roof beams, you'll absolutely have to pass a strength check, and the required points will definitely be very high, so high that even rolling a 20 wouldn't suffice."
"Who said I was going to dismantle the roof beams?" Shiller retorted with a cold laugh, and then said, "I am a clergyman now, I can't be so violent."
"You know best."
After the door was closed, they could finally continue to investigate the corpse. Everyone gathered around it.
But just at that moment, the corpse moved.